Living and having grown up among poor white people, I get pretty weary of hearing this argument. For one thing, it's bad strategy: calling people stupid and racist probably isn't going to get them to vote for the candidate you like. For another, it's flat false. Many people, whether voting red or blue, vote against their own *economic* interests in favor of other values. For instance, I'd vote for a carbon tax, even though it would leave less cash in my pocket, because I put a non-economic value on leaving a less-warmed world for later generations. Poor white people may be voting for candidates who'll stiff them fiscally because they think it's worth whatever it does for their fear of immigrants or beliefs about abortion or what have you. Disagreeing with those values doesn't mean they aren't valid, and insisting that people who base their votes on them just don't know any better makes hypocrites out of most of us.
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This from the man who committed ground troops to Vietnam & put Social Security on budget
Living and having grown up among poor white people, I get pretty weary of hearing this argument. For one thing, it's bad strategy: calling people stupid and racist probably isn't going to get them to vote for the candidate you like. For another, it's flat false. Many people, whether voting red or blue, vote against their own *economic* interests in favor of other values. For instance, I'd vote for a carbon tax, even though it would leave less cash in my pocket, because I put a non-economic value on leaving a less-warmed world for later generations. Poor white people may be voting for candidates who'll stiff them fiscally because they think it's worth whatever it does for their fear of immigrants or beliefs about abortion or what have you. Disagreeing with those values doesn't mean they aren't valid, and insisting that people who base their votes on them just don't know any better makes hypocrites out of most of us.
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